For The Greater Good-World 1: A Corrupted Cove || World//Zero ||

12. Secret Service

[Art by me]

The next few days went as followed: every morning, Alec would get up and meet Cal at the tavern, eat breakfast, and go into the field. They typically followed the same schedule, which consisted of slaying boarwolves and dueling for a few hours before heading back into town to eat supper and go to bed. Eventually, Cal taught Alec how to effectively slay the earth crabs on the beach. Sean kept his promise and greeted Alec each day before "supervising" the training sessions instead of doing his tasks. As days passed of Alec practically doing the same thing every day, he began to get frustrated not only with himself but with his mentor. People in his class were leveling up quicker than he was, already receiving gold and new armor and weapons; some even had pets already! And all of this was because they were keeping up with their quests, and heading into dungeons. At first, Alec didn't mind it that much. But now knowing that he was pretty much behind the rest of his peers, he started losing hope of ever going to his first dungeon.

One day, just before noon, Alec was hanging out with Sean in the field, waiting for his mentor to return from World 3. He had a dungeon that he had to complete first which didn't make sense to Alec in a way but dismissed it despite his annoyance. Sean and Alec proceeded on with their day fighting boarwolves and earth crabs, earning gold and "XP" in the process. (XP, Alec learned, was that red stuff that came from whenever they defeated an enemy. Sean said that it helped them upgrade weapons and get stronger, though Alec didn't follow.) After spending most of their time near the beach and the platform, Alec and Sean gradually moved their way further into the field and towards the rocks. Then, a few minutes later, they decided to rest.

The boys, after discovering the rock towers near the tunnel, decided to be a little adventurous and climb on top of them. Being so high up, Alec could see from the field to the sea, even spotting the ship they came to the Cove on. Peering over the tunnel and the brush, Alec thought that he could see patches of golden wheat.

Alec put his head in his hands. "Does your mentor wonder where you're at?" he asked Sean.

Sean looked at him before leaning back against the rocks. "She knows," he said casually. "In fact, she likes that she doesn't need to worry about me. That way she can focus on getting her quests done. That's most likely the case with Cal."

"But what about you? Have you finished your quests?"

Sean chuckled lightly. "Well, not recently. But I don't mind. I can get them done later. I'd rather be with you than..."

When Alec turned to look at the older boy, Sean's face flushed before he averted his gaze awkwardly. "A-Anyway, it's not like my quests are difficult. I could get them done in a jiffy."

Alec nodded. "Sure..."

Sean chuckled sheepishly before staying quiet. He eyed Alec for a moment before leaning toward him. "Do you have something on your mind?"

Alec widened his eyes. "Why?"

Sean shrugged. "I don't know. You seem a little quiet."

In response, Alec didn't say anything, fueling the silence in the area. This allowed the faint clanks of swords, the chops of heavy axes, and the aura-sounding summoning of magic from his peers in the field hit his ears. He pulled his legs up and hugged them.

"I don't know," Alec finally said. "I just feel a little behind is all."

Sean cocked a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Cal has just been focused on training me and getting used to my skills with duels more than me using them in battle," he replied. "I've been noticing people I recognize get through their tasks and dungeons, and I know that they have already because they have pets and new armor and weapons that I haven't even gotten yet."

"Oh."

"And to top it off, I feel like he doesn't even want to be my mentor because of how he sometimes doesn't show up. I can't help but think that he doesn't take me seriously."

"Hold on, Alec," Sean gently interrupted. "I know that Cal and I aren't necessarily on good terms, but that doesn't mean I know him. He does take you seriously, and I do not doubt that he truly does want to be your mentor either. He's trying the best he can."

"How, though?" 'No offense, but if he's not making time for me, then he's not trying hard enough,' Alec added in his head.

"You have to understand that this is the way he trains," Sean continued. "Since he got to World Zero, he was given a mentor, too, like each of us did. His mentor was strict and rough, though, and that was how he learned. He doesn't know any other way how to train you. He's doing his best. You need to be patient."

Alec crossed his arms, looking down at his shoes. "I just wish he'd listen to what I want to do."

"Have you ever asked him?"

Alec shrunk a little in his seat. "No..."

Sean scratched the back of his ear before a smirk crossed his face. "Well, maybe you don't have to."

That caught Alec's attention. "What do you mean?"

Sean slumped off the rock and landed feet-first on the grass, once it was clear of boarwolves. Looking back up at the boy, he beckoned him down with his hand. Confused, Alec jumped down and followed Sean towards the platform in haste.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You want to go into a dungeon? A visit to a dungeon is what you're gonna get."

Alec's heart nearly stopped. "What? How? Won't you get in trouble?"

"Trouble?" Sean giggled. "No, no, of course not. No one's getting in trouble."

"But you're not my mentor," Alec reminded. "I'm not allowed to go into dungeons without my mentor."

"Ah, exactly! You were paying attention!" As Alec and Sean walked into the base, he gestured towards a bulletin board with sheets of paper pinned onto it. As Alec looked closely, it appeared to have a list of names written down beforehand.

"What is this?" he asked when they got close enough to the board.

"It's to sign up for the dungeons. Only some people can go into them at a time, whether that is a group of people or a single person." Pausing his strides, Sean felt around through his robe. "Let me find a pen...here we go!"

"Sean," Alec said wearily, peering over his shoulder. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Alec had a feeling that Cal wouldn't be too happy about this.

"Sure!" Sean dipped his glass pen in some ink on a table and scanned with his finger for a space on the first dungeon's sign-up sheet. "Say, how do you spell your name?"

"How it sounds," Alec replied before shaking his head. "But that's not the point! Cal will freak out when he sees both of our names up there!"

"Our names? No, I'm not writing my name. I'm writing Cal's."

"That doesn't make it better!"

Then, as Sean was already starting to write Alec's name on the list, he suddenly stopped before he got to Cal's. Alec felt a shiver up his spine. The two boys slowly turned to look behind them to see Cal standing there with folded arms. He did not look happy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Word count: 1236 words]